Corner Cabinet

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Date:

c. 1916

Artist:

Designed by Jacques-Émile RuhlmannFrench, 1879-1933Paris, France

About this artwork

This sumptuously veneered corner cabinet is arguably a signature piece of the Art Deco era. The term Art Deco, used since the 1960s to refer to the high-style interiors of the years between the two world wars, is derived from the title of the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. This cabinet’s triangular form, with its serpentine door, is supported on short, fluted legs that are shod with ivory on the two front feet and terminate at the knees with a scroll flourish. Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann employed ebony and ivory to depict the large urn from which an abundance of stylized flowers and leaves cascades, overflowing the limits of the container to form a black-and-white oval that contrasts with the warm tone of the amboyna wood.